1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carrier for liquid components of wash formulations, a composition thereof with an antifoaming agent, a process for the preparation thereof and to detergent formulations comprising same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of liquid or solid detergent compositions for washing natural or synthetic textiles is today quite widespread. This washing may be carried out by hand, or automatically, using a washing machine.
In the latter case, the presence of abundant amounts of foam should be avoided, in contrast to manual washing. In fact, abundant foam production may cause the machine to overflow, endangering the electrical system or electronic components thereof.
Thus, attempts have long been made to reduce foam formation by incorporating antifoaming agents in the traditional detergent systems. These antifoaming materials, as well as any other liquid component of wash formulations, must, on the one hand, be in a solid form in order to be readily incorporated into the detergent powder in the case of solid detergent compositions. On the other hand, they must possess satisfactory stability, such that after variable time periods and conditions of storage, their capacity and effectiveness remain unchanged.
The following are exemplary, without limitation, of liquid components of standard detergent formulations: antifoaming agents, perfumes, textile softeners and surfactants of the nonionic type.
It has already been proposed to this art to add, as an antifoaming agent, a relatively high proportion of soaps in which the alkyl chain is long (18 to 20 carbon atoms). These soaps have several disadvantages: they need to be used in considerable amounts, they have an antifoaming capacity which is weakened in very soft water, and they are not universally applicable, namely, they do not display the same antifoaming capacity for wash compositions which are rich in nonionic agents, for wash compositions consisting essentially of soaps, or for traditional wash compositions.
Indeed, the antifoaming agents, as well as certain liquid components of the wash formulations used in solid detergent compositions must possess a certain number of characteristics:
They must be made available in a powdered form, such as to enable their incorporation in the detergent powder after the various heat treatments, because the antifoaming agents, perfumes, and the nonionic materials are typically temperature-sensitive.
They must also exhibit antifoaming activity at all washing temperatures, that is to say, from approximately 15.degree. to 95.degree. and with detergent formulations of all types.
The antifoaming agent or composition too must be stable over time within the detergent formulation. It will be appreciated that the detergent formulation is a formulation which, in the majority of cases, is highly alkaline and highly hygroscopic. This hygroscopicity frequently leads to a hydrolysis of the sensitive compounds, which include the antifoams.
To overcome these problems and to meet most of the abovementioned requirements, certain compositions have been proposed to this art. Thus, French Pat. No. 2,143,815 describes a material reducing foam formation and comprising a powdered or granular sodium tripolyphosphate, on the surface of which is borne an antifoaming composition containing an organopolysiloxane.
This antifoaming material meets the first two requirements, namely, it has on the one hand antifoaming action at all temperatures and with formulations of all types and, on the other hand, it exists in powder form.
Nonetheless, its stability is clearly insufficient and it must therefore be added in large amounts to the washing formulations, and this is unattractive from an economic standpoint.